chances are, nobody reads this anymore.

but for anyone who might chance or re-chance upon it - the blog is back.

talking not about  food this time, but places to see, a few travel tips. i have greatly benefitted from people who write about their vacations and put in tips and prices and i figure it's time to return the favor.

so you, you who like me dreams of seeing the world, even if it is just one tiny philippine barangay at a time, i hope you find this useful.

since the beach season is soon upon us, i guess the most sensible first post would be about, well, a beach place.

Laiya, Batangas has fast become really popular, being one of the beach strips easily accessed from manila. brochures will say that laiya is about 2-2.5 hours from manila, but that travel time pretty much assumes no stops and no traffic. realistically it's more like 3-3.5 hours. but still, that's not so bad.

the first time i went to laiya, i stayed at the Virgin Beach Resort. the place was very nice - it's a series of cottages about 2-3 meters apart giving a lot of privacy. you have a choice of an airconditioned cottage (around P10,000 for 3 days and 2 nights), a non-airconditioned one for around P8,000 for 3 days and 2 nights, or a non-walled cabana for much less (can't remember, sorry). each cottage has its own toilet and bath. food is a bit pricey at P1,100 per person for 3 meals.

the big plus of this place is that air of privacy from the cottages. that and the fact that from the cottages, it's a clear walk to the beach giving you that feeling of wide space (i will contrast this with another resort soon). when we were there, there were only 2 other cottages occupied - this was in september so i'm sure it's very different in the summer - making us feel like we rented the whole place.

but even if it were full, i don't think virgin beach resort would actually feel full. and for this i will be coming back despite the relatively high prices. the only let down was the food.. not too good - although their fruit shakes were decent. it's possible though that the food was so-so because there were hardly any guests and so they weren't making fresh dishes daily. when i find out, i'll let you know.

kabayan is also along the laiya beach resort strip - it's second in line (virgin is 4th or 5th, i think).

while it occupies pretty much the same land area as virgin, kabayan has more structures built on it making it more dense. there are dorm rooms for big groups a few cottages for smaller groups (at P5,500 per night) and hotel rooms good for two people (P4,000 per night). i think there are other room types as well but i didn't get to see those.

the hotel rooms are airconditioned, have a small ref, and are equipped with satellite tv - which requires a lot of patience, but if you're the type who needs tv on the beach, this is a good option.

i feel the biggest selling point of kabayan is the food arrangement. rather than requiring people to buy expensive meal packages, kabayan has a turo-turo type place where the ulam costs P65-75 per serving and the rice P10 for around half a cup. there are also short orders like pancit and grilled things. an order of inihaw na liempo, for example, is P80.

kabayan beach resort has a good array of amenities including a massage hut. make sure though when you get a massage - i think it's supposed to be P300/hour but when i got mine it lasted just a little over 30 mins.  

it's not as private as virgin, but it's good for barkada trips and should be a good destination this summer. 

stayed here for a couple of nights and right off the bat i'll say the 2 biggest strengths of microtel are - its location, and the bed.

the location is great. it's right beside the victory bus station and is about 5 minutes walk to SM, 10 minutes walk to session road, and therefore 10-15 minutes walk to burnham park and the market. this is actually the side of baguio i prefer living in simply because everything is so convenient, and because it's not smack in the center, one can still get peace and quiet.

the bed is ultra comfy. i have to specify the bed rather than the whole room because the room is fairly regular - a bit on the small side. nothing fancy. but that bed is really comfy.

the staff is friendly and accommodating - which they should be. the breakfast though is a little on the blah side. i suppose i wouldn't mind so much if the room didn't cost so much (around P3,000 per night), but since it does, i was at least expecting a really nice breakfast.

what we had was a mini-buffet of rice, a couple of viands, bread (which always ran out) and jam. this was laid out in what is likely a conference room in real life - so no dining ambience.

but all in all it was a really pleasant stay, just couldn't shake the feeliing that it was a bit overpriced.

this hotel just opened last october. we discovered it because we drove past it, found it to be looking really great from the outside, went in and asked about their rates. booked for the new year at a bargain of P2,800/night (we made the reservation in november). bargain because when december hit, their rate shot up to P4,200/night.

for that price you get a studio room containing 2 double beds, a flat screen tv, a dvd player, a decent bathroom, and breakfast. we were there during peak season and had no problems whatsoever. the staff was friendly, the room was really comfortable, and the general surroundings were quiet - considering it was new year.

the front of the hotel opens to kisad road - a few dozen meters or so from burnham park - and the back opens to legarda road, where quite a bit of baguio's nightlife seems to be. this isn't my favorite part of baguio, but it is also right in the middle of most things.

the breakfast was a step up from microtel, nothing great, but at least they had a proper dining room. the dvd player - while no biggie - was still a treat to have in the room. one thing noticeable though was that the staff seemed undertrained. while they were nice enough, half the time it seemed they were uncertain of what to do. growing pains that hopefully they get over soon enough.

i felt we got a great deal at P2,800 but at P4,200 i'm not sure. i think you'll get more value in burnham than in microtel - but at that price, maybe the manor is the place to go.